by Lila Rose
Talon had brothers scouting to see what else could be found out. To see if there was more Tank was conspiring with, and if he was, would that crap blow back on us, the club? Fuck, not only us, but Tank had a missus and kids. If the men who killed him didn’t like the deal that went down, others who were close to Tank could get trouble come their way.
Talon ordered protection for Malinda and her kids straight after he found out Tank’s dealings. We all knew it was going to be one hell of a time because she already showed that she didn’t trust us.
But she’d have to deal if she wanted to stay safe.
The back door opened up and I turned from talking to Killer and Dodge to see Mattie walk through. I was just about to turn back around, but the person who came through after Mattie had my full attention. Even though I sensed others walk out after her, my eyes stayed glued to her curves that swayed as she walked. Mattie led her to the women’s group over in the corner under a large shady oak tree, protecting the little monsters from the warming sun.
Christ, she looked stunning, even though she only wore jeans and a tee. But those jeans hugged her arse nicely and that tee splayed tightly over her more-than-a-handful breasts.
Breasts I wouldn’t mind slipping my dick between.
“Why don’t you just go over there?” Killer asked.
I turned back to my brother and smirked. I took a pull of my beer and shook my head. “She ain’t my type.”
Dodge snorted. “Tell your eyes and tongue that; they seem to be hanging outta your head as soon as she walked in.”
“Fuck off,” I hissed. They both laughed and then we all turned back to watch the show. Julian was the first to stand. He hugged Malinda, and I swore under my breath. The introduction went around the group, even though she’d already met them the previous day. My eyes stalked her mouth as she spoke and introduced her kids. Wildcat said something and pointed to Josie who was talking with Cody and Maya to the side. Wildcat’s parents were usually there, but they had to go do some other shit and dropped Josie off to spend time with her sister and family. Malinda’s kids soon slunk off toward Josie.
Malinda took a garden seat next to Ivy. Killer patted me on the back. “I’m goin’ over, you comin’?”
“Sure,” I said, not really paying attention. Dodge chuckled and walked off to the barbeque area where Talon and Blue were.
As we made our way over, Malinda sensed us coming. Turning, she looked and stiffened. Mattie, who was sitting on her other side, touched her arm. She looked to him and nodded.
“Oh, oh, oh,” Ivy started and I braced, “Malinda, I’d like you to meet my man Fox. Though, everyone here calls him Killer. It’s a thing the biker dudes do for each other, with the whole nickname thing, and then when a female joins the group. They get a name too. Like me, I’m chatter. You can probably tell why. I talk a lot. Usually it’s when I’m nervous…or when everyone is so quiet, like now, but then again, it’s easy for everyone to go quiet when I’m around. Really, I could probably talk enough for everyone. Anyway, as I was saying, I’m chatter and Zara gets called Wildcat, and Deanna, you met her yesterday. She should be here soon. She is called Hell Mouth. I just bet you can guess why; sometimes she’s worse with swearing than the guys. Oh, my God,” her eyes widened. “I just realised we haven’t got a name for you, Clary. We must think on this.”
“Woman,” I sighed.
“Stoke, goodness, sorry. Malinda, this is Stoke.” She leaned closer to Malinda and whispered, “His real name is Declan. Kickarse name I think. What about you? But not as kickarse as Fox.” She beamed. Malinda simply nodded. She looked stunned, as we all were when we first met and really talked to Ivy. No one could understand how so many words could come out of her sweet mouth in such a short amount of time.
Malinda looked from Fox to myself. Fox gave her a chin lift. I went in for the kill and sent her a wide smile. Her brows drew down.
Zara soon took away Malinda’s attention, and Malinda turned to her when Zara spoke. “Malinda, how are you holding up?” She sent a small, concerned smile to Malinda as she bounced a wiggly Ruby on her knee. I looked to see Drake sitting on the rug where the chairs were surrounding, chewing on something that looked plain and boring.
I took a seat opposite her as Killer went and stood behind his woman’s chair. He bent and whispered something in Ivy’s ear, causing her to blush. Fuck, he was a lucky bastard. Ivy was amazing, so happy and carefree, but so fuckin’ loyal. She was perfect for my brother, who was a brother in more ways than one. I never thought Killer would dig his way out of the darkness that surrounded him. But he did and it was because of Ivy. For that alone, I would be forever grateful to that woman.
“I’m…um, okay.” She bit her bottom lip as an indication she didn’t want to talk about it, and I couldn’t blame her. She was surrounded by people she didn’t know.
“How old are your monsters, Lindy?” We all looked to Julian. He slid off his seat to sit on the rug with Drake. Drake grinned up at him as Julian pulled a funny face and made a noise from his mouth. Well, I sure hoped to fuck it came from his mouth.
“Are you talking to me?” Malinda asked.
“Yeah, sweetie. I’ll christen you…until the men get to know you. Lindy, short for Malinda.” He smiled and tickled Drake who giggled with glee.
“Oh.” She licked her lips. I watched her tongue with interest. “Nary is sixteen and Josh is fourteen.”
“So that makes them both in high school. Must be a handful.” Zara smiled nicely.
Malinda nodded. “They both like trying me.”
“Josie, my adopted sister, will be graduating at the end of the year. She’s only been with us for two years, but it seems longer. They do seem to grow up too fast.”
Malinda smiled sadly. “Yes, they do.” I didn’t like seeing that sad smile upon her gorgeous face. Thank fuck, it wasn’t there for long.
The back door opened and out stepped Hell Mouth who then shouted, “I’m knocked up.” Griz came out behind her, smiling like a proud man and holding Swan in his arms. She kicked free of her dad’s hold, and once her feet were on the ground, she took off for Maya. Stepping closer to his woman, Griz slid one arm across Hell Mouth’s chest; he brought her back against his chest as he said something to her. She laughed. “Sorry, my man, who is big and strong and mighty, knocked me up.”
That was when the women went crazy. Some squealed, mostly Julian, but all made their way over to congratulate the happy couple. That was until Wildcat came back and tried to dump a squirming Ruby on my lap. I held my hands up and yelled, “Whoa, woman, what in the hell are you doing?” Despite my protest, she sat her down.
“Just hold her ‘til I come back and then you can congratulate them.” Zara giggled and quickly took off.
“Wait,” I yelled in a panic now. “What do I do?” I looked to Killer. Shrugging, he smirked his arse off. With wide eyes, I looked to the only person left, Malinda, scared as fuck. I did not do children. “What do I do? Shit, help, it’s moving!” I snapped as Ruby shifted around to look at me. “What does it need? Food? A drink? Hell, I can’t feed you, little person. I don’t have milk in me.” My head rose slowly and I hissed, “Christ, what happens if it needs to poop? Zara?” I barked across the lawn.
“Man up, big boy,” came from Wildcat.
That was when I heard a tinkle of laughter. My head snapped around to glare at Malinda as she covered her mouth with her hand and laughed behind it.
“This ain’t funny, woman. Look at it. Hell, it’s straining. It’s doing it; I can tell. It’s pooping because it knows I won’t like it. Now, listen here, little one, keep that stuff inside you. Do. Not. Poop.”
Doubled over, laughing her sexy arse off, I looked over at Malinda in disbelief. Killer was just as bad, chuckling at my expense, standing at her side.
“Brother, take it.” I held Ruby out.
“Shit no,” Killer answered around his laughter.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I chanted. “The other one
is looking at me. No, no, stay there, little dude.” Christ, Drake was crawling my way. I quickly stood from the chair, took two steps forward and planted Ruby in Malinda’s lap.
She sobered her laughing enough to say to Ruby, “Did that mean man scare you?” She laughed again and added, “I think you scared him even more.” I sat back in my chair and nodded. I was totally on board with that. Kids could be scary. My eyes met with emerald green ones when Malinda looked over at me. “They’re not that scary.” She smiled. “She may like it if you stopped calling her an it. What’s her name?”
“Ruby,” I said.
“You are a beautiful girl, little Ruby,” she cooed down at her.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” We heard shouting. Everyone turned to look over at Cody in the face of Malinda’s boy, Josh.
“Oh, no,” Malinda uttered. She got up from her seat and with Ruby on her hip. She dashed over to her son, with Killer and me on her heels.
“It’s obvious she isn’t your real mum. Get over it,” Josh yelled back in Cody’s face.
“Josh,” Malinda gasped.
“Cody?” Zara said as she came up beside Malinda. Malinda quickly passed Ruby to Wildcat as Zara told Mattie to go to Drake. I stood back a bit to see how it would play out.
“You need to shut your mouth. She is my mum and just because you’re angry your stupid dad died doesn’t mean you can say shit to me,” Cody yelled.
“Cody Marcus,” Zara snapped.
“What?” Cody growled. He caught himself and his tone toward Wildcat and stepped back from Josh. “He said you weren’t my mum.” Cody glared at Josh.
“Josh, why would you say such a thing?” Malinda asked.
Josh looked over his shoulder to his mum, shrugged and then said, “Everyone knows at school his real mum didn’t want him.”
They were in school together. Interesting. They looked about the same age. Maybe they were in the same grade.
Cody made a leap for Josh. Talon was there in a flash and grabbed his son. Malinda, with shoulders slumped, smacked her son in the back of the head. “Apologise right now.”
“Mum,” Josh whined.
“Now,” she snapped, and fuck, it if that didn’t turn me the hell on.
He mumbled, “Sorry.”
“And I’m so sorry about this,” Malinda uttered. “We better get going anyway.” She took her son’s arm in hand and started for the back door. Her daughter silently followed.
“Lindy,” Julian called, “you don’t have to go.”
“No, I should,” she stated, and looked to me, and then back to Julian.
What was that?
“I’ll walk you out,” Mattie offered.
Me? I stood there like a fuckin’ pining fool.
I really needed to get laid.
After she was through the door, Talon turned to his son. “Fuckin’ proud you wanted to stick up for yourself, but you don’t let shit like that get to you. He’s going through some crap at the moment and trying to find a way to let it out.”
“I know, Dad.” Cody sighed.
“Honey,” Zara glared at her husband. “Watch your mouth.” Talon’s lips twitched. Ignoring it, Zara turned to Cody, “You also, young man. Now let’s get you fed. Just like your father, maybe if I calm your beast inside down with a good feed, you wouldn’t have needed to yell.” She took a step toward Cody and laid her hand on his cheek. “No matter what anyone says, I am your mum.” With that, she kissed his cheek. Cody blushed and shrugged out of her hold embarrassed.
“I know,” he said with an eye roll.
“Let’s fuckin’ eat,” Talon called.
“Talon,” Zara warned.
Family. Too much shit to deal with. I could handle it with just the brothers of the club, but not with any kids. That was something I knew I never wanted.
The back door opened and I turned to it…Christ almighty, I had hope in me that Malinda was back…even with her kids.
What. The. Fuck.
I just contradicted myself.
Instead, it was Helen, Ivy’s old best mate and my ex—sort of.
It was definitely time for me to get the fuck outta there!
Chapter Four
Malinda
“What in your right mind drove you to do that, Josh?” I asked on the drive home. Mattie had walked us out. He asked for my phone, and without thinking, because I was still shocked with what Josh had done, I’d given it to him. He fiddled with it and said he placed all his contacts in there, telling me that if I ever needed him, to call. I said a quiet thank you, never knowing people to be so kind without really knowing me. I was surprised he wanted to reach out to me even more.
“I don’t know,” Josh said quietly from the backseat.
“It was a dick move,” Nary offered.
I turned my head to glare at her. “Nary,” I warned and took a deep breath. “Josh, honey. You have to know why you said it. Please tell me.”
Looking in the rear-view mirror, I caught his eye roll, but the look on his face told me he knew, and he was not only angry, but upset. “Maybe because he was bragging how good his home life is. Maybe it was because we only just buried Dad yesterday and he was talking about how good he had it, when I had a dad who didn’t give a shit about us. I had a dad who showed us nothing but that we were a waste. I wanted him to hurt like I was. Happy now?” he yelled.
Oh, God.
My heart bled for my child.
Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them away. I had to be strong for him, not just Josh, but Nary as well. “Honey,” I uttered. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken us there today. But, Josh, please know, please believe me that your dad did love you. He may not have shown it, but he did. He was just going through a bad time”
“What, for freakin’ fourteen years? Mum…don’t. Don’t stick up for him. Both Nary and I saw how he was. He didn’t like us and he didn’t like you.”
“Baby, he did. He really did like you both.”
Josh snorted. “Yeah, okay, Mum.”
Damn it to hell. I should have left him. For our children’s sake, I should have left him. Maybe then, he would have been a better father. I sighed. He wouldn’t have, but at least then I could have protected my children more.
I’d failed.
Failed as a mother because I was too scared.
It wasn’t fair on them. I should have seen that. As a result, I would regret it for the rest of my living life.
I wanted to slap my forehead and cry to the sky. I wanted to crawl into a ball and yell that the world wasn’t fair. My children didn’t deserve what they felt and it was my fault.
As we pulled into the driveway, I turned in my seat and caught Nary and Josh’s eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you both feel this way, but most of all, I’m sorry I didn’t protect you both from it. All I can tell you, all that I can hope is that you both find my love enough to keep this family going. Because I do love you both with all of my heart. I always will no matter what you do, and I hope you feel that love and know you both can come to me any time you need to. That you both can talk to me about anything, and I will try my best to support you in every way I can.”
Nary’s eyes softened, something I hadn’t seen in a long time, and Josh smiled at me shyly—that was also something that had been rare, and I should have noticed both before.
“We know, Mum,” Nary said. “I love you, too.”
My bottom lip trembled. There was my beautiful girl.
“Yeah, uh, me to. That…I love you, too and I’m sorry about today.”
Oh, dear. And there was my precious little boy.
I wiped the tears that had escaped away and smiled brightly. “Thank you, both of you.” I clapped my hands together and announced, “Now, I think this evening calls for a good dose of comedy movies and pizza. What do you think?”
“Sounds great,” Nary said. “I’ll just go and call Mitch. Tell him I’m not coming over.” I thanked the Lord above that Mitch
was gay, or else there would be no way I would let my sixteen-year-old daughter near an eighteen-year-old boy.
“That’d be awesome, Mum, but make sure you get a real man’s pizza, with all meat.”
Nary and I both laughed.
****
It was after we’d eaten our way through two large pizzas, and after we had watched Let’s be Cops, there was a knock at the front door. I looked to the clock on the set-top box. It read seven pm. Who’s here at this time? The children had just gone into the kitchen to make some chocolate sundaes, so I got up from the couch to answer it.
Only upon opening it, I tried to close it just as quickly.
But it was too late.
A black dress shoe was shoved inside and a weight leaned against the door pushing it back toward me. I stumbled back a few steps, and that was when Oscar, Terry’s brother, filled it and he looked pissed.
“W-what are you doing here?” I stuttered while I prayed the children would stay in the kitchen without making a sound.
“Tell me where it is,” he hissed. He took another step in and slammed the door closed.
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told him and moved more into the living room, so his back would be to the kitchen.
“I think you do. You just want to keep it all. My brother said you were a stupid, selfish bitch, but I thought such a pretty little woman wouldn’t be like that.”
Oh, God.
What had Terry been involved in with Oscar?
I didn’t know what he was talking about…what he wanted. It looked as though he’d just come from work. He was dressed in a suit, one like he wore every day at his car dealership.
“Please, if you just tell me what you’re after, I’ll get it,” I said, backing up another step until my body hit the wall next to the television.